St. Mary’s Food Bank short 8,000 turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Rising food costs are forcing more people to food banks in need of free food. Right now, St. Mary’s spokespeople say they are feeding around 1,000 families every day. The line of cars wraps around their building in Phoenix. They expect the line to grow next week leading up to Thanksgiving.

The rising price of groceries is impacting food banks. St. Mary’s says more people are coming through their lines and increasing demand, but fewer people are donating. Spokesperson Jerry Brown says a $10 donation used to be enough for a turkey. It’s now doubled, and a turkey is bought from a $20 donation. “There isn’t extra food for the food banks this year so we are purchasing more food than we ever have before, and we’re paying more for that food,” Brown said. “It’s unsustainable. That’s why you want to make sure at some point we get this turned around economy wise.”

The food bank is feeling the pressure now as time is running out ahead of the next week’s holiday. St. Mary’s wants to give out 18,000 turkeys to people in need around Arizona. Right now, they are 8,000 short. They typically have most turkeys in the warehouse, ready to go next week. Brown is hoping people will step up and help. “There’s just something about the turkey being the center piece of a Thanksgiving meal its traditional its a sense of normalcy in an abnormal year. We’re not counting our chickens or our turkeys right now. We’re just trying to get as many as we can.”

St. Mary’s is hosting its 17th annual Super Saturday Turkey Drive on Nov. 19. They typically get around 2,000 turkey donations from the event, but they could get less this year because of the higher prices.

If you want to learn more about this event, click here. To learn more on how to donate, click here.

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